Update on Australian woman with no memory found in California

Yesterday, we told you about the Australian woman who had turned up in a Southern Californian hospital with no recollection of who she was or where she came from.

Now, the woman has spoken to a US news team about her plight.

In the video, the lost woman speaks with a British accent (not Australian as previously thought) and has a few words that are American sounding.

In an exclusive interview with NBC 7 San Diego, ‘Sam’ said, “I have this dream of this bloke in my dreams all the time”.

“I just feel like there is this thick fog over my memory, over my brain, that I can’t see through”,

Sam, who is aged about 50, has been diagnosed with stage-three ovarian cancer which may be responsible for her lack of memory.

When found, Sam says, “I didn’t have anything on me. I had no jewellery, no purse, nothing”.

She vaguely remembers regularly eating “brekkie” at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach, and swimming there.

“I started dreaming about Australia, that was my first recollection of anything. I was in a lap pool, I’d have these incessant dreams.

“I’m hoping that someone sees me in this or something on the internet and my family immediately says ‘There she is, there she is,’ ” Sam told NBC 7 San Diego.

“[But] I don’t know if I’m going to recognise even the people that I knew”.

It’s been four months since Sam was first found unconscious by firefighters, and now the hunt is on to find just who this woman is, as no one has yet reported her missing.

Interpol has distributed her photo worldwide and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s San Diego branch told Fairfax Media this week that it was treating her claims as legitimate.

In more recent developments since the interview, two people have come out and said they know Sam. One, a Carlsbad resident Ann Dahl said she knows the woman from a Bible study at a Catholic church and believes she was homeless.

“I know the voice; I know the face, although she’s gained a little weight and the whole persona is the same,” said Dahl to NBC 7.

The other, Amy Schaefer from Utah, who says she knew Sam 20 years ago in Arizona, by another name and claims Sam is 100 per cent American.

We don’t yet know if this is an elaborate hoax or a legitimate story, but time will tell.

Description of ‘Sam’

• around 50 years old
• 170cm
• 90kg
• blonde highlighted hair
• brown eyes
• chipped front tooth
• right handed
• near sighted
• small pox scar on her right arm
• was wearing a navy blue t-shirt with “Annapolis Harbor” printed on it, navy blue shorts, Sperry boat shoes and a Burberry tie made in England.

Share with your friends so that Sam’s family can be located.